fix me in fortyfive
by another moment gone
Summary: Short story multi-chapter. "Maybe you were even a worker in one of the two-towers that collapsed; maybe you're one of the worker that survived that just wants to voice EXACTLY what it was like. Taking you back to September 11, 2001." -another moment gone-
1. Trailer

fix me in forty-five

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Trailer

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_**Coming soon…**_

_Remember that story? The one that played on every single channel on the TV, every single news station, every single pair of eyes glued to the television screen? Remember hearing how devastating it was? How destructive and tragic and sickening it really was? _

_Maybe you've lost your father in that building, maybe you've lost your mother, or your aunt, or your brother or even your sister, maybe even a close cousin. It impacted you hard, right? Or the latter?_

_Maybe you were even a worker in one of the two-towers that collapsed; maybe you're one of the workers that survived that just wants to voice EXACTLY what it was like._

_Because we all know, videos are just simply—not enough._

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**She's been working in that building for four years straight; she's met many kinds of people and taken many different business risks to help her climb the work-ladder. And she's one of the few survivors that is willing to talk about it.**

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Massie Block:

"Hi my name's Massie Block," the brunette with long curled glossy tresses said, twirling a lock around her manicured finger.

Todd Lyons:

"The name's Todd Lyons," he said with a smirk, his gleaming brown eyes reminding her of melted chocolate.

Alicia Rivera:

"If I said to look out the window right now," the Spanish beauty murmured shakily, doe-eyes wide, "Would you?"

Claire Lyons:

"Todd, I can't hear you—you need to talk louder," she begged, turning on the channel. Her breathing hitched.  
"Where are you Todd? I need to know, right now."

Danny Robbins:

The flames were developing, the fire swallowing and engulfing the two of them. Everything was becoming cloudy, the smoke choking them and taking punches at their lungs.

"Would you hold it against me if I kissed you?"

Derrick Harrington:

"I don't care if this is going to kill me," he said with a tight voice, "I'm going down with this building because I am part of it."

_This is not a love-story, I must tell you that right now.

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_taking you back to: 

**_September 11, 2001._**

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Should I continue? It would be a short multi-chaptered story.

Review?

-another moment gone-


	2. Last summer we took threes across

fix me in forty-five

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for the first time—the script

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_September 1, 2011_

_The first thing little fourteen-year old Nikki Dalton notices about this middle-aged lady is that she has frail wing-paper-thin wrinkle-free skin but the most striking pair of amber(?) eyes she has ever seen in her mere fourteen years of life. _

_The lady walks in slowly, walking with pride and a slight limp. She was drop-dead beautiful, Nikki notes with a touch of envy._

_Nikki stands up and shakes the lady's hand, "My name is Nikki Dalton and I've asked you to tell me more about Nine-Eleven." _

"_Massie Block," the brunette says with a surprisingly strong voice and a gentle handshake._

_Nikki returns to her seat and quickly sets up her recorder and clipboard and lined notebook and pen. "I've got some warm-up questions," she says. "If you don't mind me asking; how old are you?" _

"_Thirty-five," Massie replies glancing down at her scarred hands. _

"_How old were you when Nine-Eleven happened?" _

"_Twenty-four," she says with ease._

"_Okay great," Nikki says, a smile playing. "Now let's get to the real questions,"_

"—_wait," Massie interjects to Nikki's utter surprise. No one else has protested before…_

"_Yes?" Nikki asks timidly, apprehension clouding her face._

"_Can I tell you my story first? I understand you need to answer a set of questions," she says with tired eyes, "But I would like to tell you my story so it can mean more to you when you share with your friends what happened."_

_Nikki wasn't sure what to say but she had time this week. "How often can you meet?"_

_Massie paused for a hesitant moment to think, Nikki assumed mindfully._

"_Any day," she replied finally._

"_Great! We can meet every day at two-forty-five?" _

"_That works," the brunette nodded._

"_Okay," Nikki finally said, "Now tell your story. I'm interested." She clicked the red little record button, without even realizing her breath was being held.

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September 1, 2001

Massie Block strode into one the two twin towers with a sense pride wavering in her bones. She was proud to be one of the employees in one of the infamous World Trade Centers located right in the heart of Manhattan, New York.

She took the usual elevator (elevator number four) and easily pressed level one-oh-eight. Right as the door was about to close, a redhead stopped the sliding doors from closing.

"Sorry," he said apologetically while fingering the files of papers in his manila folder, "I'm already late as it is."

She shrugged, not being one for minding sharing an elevator that goes up and down one-hundred-and-ten floors.

He was balancing an iced coffee in one hand from Dunkin Donuts and the folder in the other. Right as he swooped in, his coffee spilt all over her.

She let out a loud gasp in surprise. His emerald green eyes popped open.

"Oh my—I'm so sorry," he whipped out the only napkins he had in his back pocket.

She looked up slowly, snidely ignoring the dripping coffee from her new Ralph Lauren limited-edition pencil skirt and blazer.

"Its fine," she spat irritably, whipping the napkins from his hands and patting her blouse and skirt down heavily. "Shit, boss will be mad," she thought aloud.

"I'll tell him myself I did it," he offered, those green piercing eyes distracting her from her expected fury.

"Don't bother," she snapped half-heartedly. She quickly glanced up. _Floor one-hundred._

"I'm really _so _sorry," he repeated with sincerity thick in his voice. He was at least a head taller than her. Slim and muscled, she assumed to her own dismay.

He ran a hand through his head full of red hair.

"Whatever," she dismissed as calmly as possible, her anger fading slightly; annoyance was replacing her anger and so was apprehension. _Big meeting with the boss…_

"Seriously, I'll come with you and tell your boss it was my entire fault," he insisted, on his hands and knees collecting ice cubes in the remaining cup.

"You're not going to give that to your boss, are you?" She couldn't help herself.

He glanced up, a very glowing grin elated on his freckled face. "No," his smile grew a little.

"Were you going to before?" She wondered aloud, staring down at him on the ground.

"Yes," he admitted sheepishly and stood up, towering over her. "What's your name you-poor-unfortunate-victim-of-mine?"

Despite her obvious annoyance, she couldn't help but chuckle at the charming guy. "Massie Block,"

His smile grew even more, if possible, and he wiped his hands on his dark pants. "Nice to meet you Massie, I'm Todd Lyons: number one klutz."

She laughed again, hearing the _ding _of the elevator door. She stepped out and was headed for her work station when she realized Todd Lyons was following her.

"What are you doing?" She said, gazing at him. He tossed the cup of coffee in the nearest trash bin and walked back to her.

"I'm going to find your boss; who is he? Derrick?"

The brunette nodded in suspicion. "How'd you know?"

The redhead shrugged, his manila folder shifting onto his right side. "Lucky guess," he dismissed.

She needed to get him out of her way. "I'll make you a deal, if you leave me alone and my boss alone, you can make the coffee incident up to me,"

His eyebrow arched.

"What can I possibly do?"

She side-stepped Alicia Rivera as she stormed through the aisles of offices, a stack of folders in her arms.

"Take me out to get some coffee," she said quickly, noticing Derrick Harrington shut his office door. "Preferably without the coffee on me,"

He laughed to her amusement and pleasure. "How about a dinner?"

She blushed slightly; hoping the anger from earlier was still in her cheeks, she ran a hand through her brown glossy tresses.

"Here's my business card, call me," she handed him her card and shooed him towards the elevator.

When she reached her station, she sat in her swivel chair and sighed in utter relief.

"Massie," a masculine voice interrupted her corrupted thoughts. She jumped from her chair in surprise, landing herself a nice spot on the rugged floor.

"Sorry to scare you," Derrick Harrington aided her to her feet.

"No, it was my fault," she took the blame easily, her feet hitting the ground again.

"Anyway," he cleared his throat, "As I was saying—"

_Beeeeeeeep._

To her utter embarrassment, the iPhone generation 4 beeped once loudly in her purse.

"Shoot," she cursed, "Sorry, Sir. Continue,"

"I was thinking we could have a faculty meeting tonight, Cecelia's at eight?" He shot her a charming smile.

She nodded, barely realizing her mistake.

"Great, see you later,"

She hurriedly reached into her purse, feeling for the smooth surface.

**Unknown #: 975-652-5531  
Message: Serendipity's 7?  
-Klutz**

She giggled softly and blushed when her neighboring office friend gave her a funny look. She added his contact in immediately.

Then she realized what she already committed herself to.  
**To: Todd Lyons  
Message: Rain-check? **

She was frowning.

**To: Massie Block  
Message: Next time then?**

Her smile quickly returned.  
**To: Todd Lyons  
Message: Tomorrow coffee Starbucks?  
**She sat back in her chair and powered on her MacBook Pro laptop.  
**To: Massie Block**

**Message: C u then. **

Why the hell was she grinning like an idiot?

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What'd ya think?  
Review?  
-another moment gone-


	3. mystery's flashing amber

fix me in forty-five

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piledriver waltz—alex turner

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_September 2, 2011_

"_Ready?" Massie asks, settling comfortably on the nearby couch in the Dalton's foyer._

"_Let me just turn this recorder on," Nikki replies, reaching a finger out to click the little red button. "Okay. Go."_

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September 3, 2011

"Morning, boss," Massie greeted, wincing slightly when she realized the tone of her voice was far too happy. She walked into his office carrying his expected coffee in her left hand and her cell-phone in the other hand.

Quickly she placed his coffee on his desk then plopped gracefully onto his cushioned chair.

Derrick glanced up from his laptop, his eyes scrutinizing the brunette's bubbly, bright, oddly-shaded eyes. He arched an eyebrow.

"I know you think I'm crazy," she practically sang, fingering her coffee. "But I'm so _happy_,"

His eyebrows crinkled, "Why?"

Her grin grew, if possible, and she tossed her head back with her full-blown out grin still intact. "I," she began cheerfully, "have a date tomorrow."

He glanced up from his laptop again, looked at her really hard, than sighed with a small smile. "How did your coffee date go then?"

Massie's white teeth gleamed under the sun's light in Derrick's large office. The windows provided a lot of light to shine through, effectively making the office more welcoming and comfortable.

"It went," she thought for a moment, "perfect."

He chuckled. "Isn't it pretty early to say the 'p' word, Miss Block?"

She blushed, her pale skin glowing in the light. She was so damn happy; she didn't even care about formally speaking to her boss—they used to date, so whatever.

"I don't know, Derrick," she informally replied. "He's just different. I'm used to a bunch of idiots trying to get in my pants, but Todd? He was just so—"

Derrick's eyes grew hard, "Todd? Todd Lyons? From the other tower?"

Massie nodded slowly, her smile falling visibly.

"He's the enemy," he said harshly, removing his glasses from the bridge of his nose, looking as if he was about to lecture her. "He is in building number two, Miss Block. He is supposed to be our friendly helper but as it appears, he must be spying on us...there's no way..." He trailed off, his eyes glazing with wonder and calculating thoughts.

Anger flashed in her amber eyes, efficiently ending her good-mood streak. "Excuse me? Derrick, you are blowing this way out of proportion, he's actually—"

"—Save it Miss Block," Derrick interjected. "I demand you back to your office, type that article for me, put that pretty smile of yours back on your face and quit getting distracted by silly boys like Todd Lyons. I advise you to quit seeing him before things go any further, am I understood?" He locked eyes with her.

She opened her mouth.

"But—"

"Listen to my words, take my advice; there's plenty of other fish in the sea. But your job is more important than some boy," without her response, his eyes moved back to his laptop, his fingers pressing the keys rapidly. The conversation was dismissed.

Boiling with frustration, she stomped out quickly before she could make her imagination come true. (Spilling the coffee all over Derrick's stupid blazer.)

"Asshole," she muttered under her breath, reaching for the door handle.

"What was that Miss Block?" Derrick asked.

"Nothing," she said shortly, " absolutely nothing, Sir."

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Continue?

Review:D

-another moment gone-


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